New England

Patriots Ground Jets, Improve to 3-0

New England Patriots beat New York Jets 30-14 at Gillette Stadium as defense continues to shine

This is getting repetitive.

Far be in the sharpest looking blowout, the Patriots were never in jeopardy of losing in Sunday’s 30-14 thrashing of the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium as they improved to 3-0 on the season.

"Obviously, there's some mistakes we made, things we need to improve on so we'll work on that and just get ready to grind it out here and head up to Buffalo," Bill Belichick said.

Julian Edelman and Adam Butler left the game with injuries, Josh Gordon got dinged up, and New England finally allowed a team to enter the end zone. Stephen Gostkowski missed another PAT. Thanks to a lightning-quick start, however, it was business as usual against a Jets team that punted on each of its first six possessions.

New York would go on to punt on all but three of its drives.

The Jets, who trotted out third-string quarterback Luke Falk in place of the injured Sam Darnold and Trever Siemian, almost certainly would’ve punted on its seventh possession if it weren’t for the halftime whistle. And its eighth possession came to an end when Falk was intercepted by Devin McCourty, who would’ve had enough time to call for the fair catch.

The only other drive New York didn't punt was a failed fourth-down conversion in the final minute of regulation.

"I think we've played good team defense at times," Belichick said. "There's still things we need to work on and be a little more consistent at, things we can definitely coach better, but our players have prepared well, the communication has been good."

Falk, who like the opposing quarterback was the 199th overall pick in his draft, didn’t top 100 yards through the air and barely completed 50% of his throws.

Tom Brady, on the other hand, was superb, especially early. He completed seven of eight passes on the first series of the game for the Patriots, his first two passes to special teamer Brandon Bolden -- not quite Antonio Brown -- before handing off to Sony Michel for a 5-yard touchdown run which ignited the rout.

Brady later threw touchdown passes to Phillip Dorsett and to Edelman, moving past Drew Brees for second on the all-time list in the process with score Nos. 523 and 524. With Brees sidelined for at least a few more weeks, the chances of Brady winning the race to Peyton Manning atop the list at 539 are pretty good.

Brady was even set to get an early breather, replaced by Jarrett Stidham in the fourth quarter after throwing for 300 yards on 27 of 40 passing. Stidham completed his first two passes before getting picked off by Jamal Adams, who promptly returned it 60 yards for a score.

Back came Brady to put out the fire.

"We'll look at the film," Belichick said. "There will be a lot of things we can do better there -- coaching, playing. There's room for improvement from everybody. Hopefully we'll get back to work this week and try to take another step forward."

The pick-six for Adams, as well as an Arthur Maulet fumble recovery in the end zone on a Gunner Olszewski muffed punt, accounted for the first touchdowns scored on New England in 2019. The defense is still pitching a shutout at least, which dates back to the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship Game.

Jamie Collins had two sacks for the Patriots, while Chase Winovich, Dont'a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy and Adam Butler were credited with half a sack apiece.

The Patriots travel to Buffalo next week to take on the Bills at 1 p.m. and don't play again at home until Thursday, Oct. 10, when they'll host Daniel Jones and the New York Giants.

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